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Unilineality is a system of determiningdescent groups in which one belongs to one's father's or mother's line, whereby one's descent is traced either exclusively through male ancestors (patriline), or exclusively through female ancestors (matriline). Bothpatrilineality andmatrilineality are types of unilineal descent. The main types of the unilineal descent groups arelineages andclans.
A lineage is a unilineal descent group that can demonstrate their common descent from a knownapical ancestor. It is also called the simple unilineal descent.
Recent research[1] on the unilineal descent organization has studied variables that are usually regarded as the main causes of the decline of unilineal descent organization – viz. statehood,class stratification and commercialization – along with one not previously considered: deepChristianization, defined here as having been Christianized over 500 years before ethnographic study. The research demonstrated that the traditionally accepted causes of the decline are less significant than deep Christianization, while the presence of unilineal descent groupscorrelates negatively withcommunal democracy and is especially strong for complex traditional societies. Its conclusion is that asthe communal democracy correlates positively with the supracommunal one[clarify],Christianization might have contributed to the development of modern democracy by helping to replace unilineal descent organization inEurope.
